Preheat the oven to 180C (160C for fan forced ovens). Grease and line baking trays.
Cream the butter, sugar and condensed milk in a large bowl until pale.
Mix in the flour and then fold in the chocolate chips and raspberries. (if you use frozen raspberries like I did, the end result will be prettier because they do not start leaking juices through the mixture when frozen. When fresh or defrosted, the juices can lead to a purple muddled look throughout the dough. If you are using fresh raspberries, instead of mixing them in, you could press it into the dough after you roll it into balls.)
Roll the dough into smooth round walnut sized balls, spacing them from others on the tray by about 2 inches to leave room for spreading.
Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the edges become lightly golden. Remove from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes before placing on a cooling rack. Store in airtight container.

NOTES: You can roll the dough into a sausage shape and cover in plastic wrap and freeze. Cut the dough with a sharp knife and bake from frozen. You can also refrigerate the dough for a few weeks prior to cooking if you like.

Thursday, June 30, 2016

I put aside the supermarket brand rolled fondant and went to a proper cake decorating shop for the goods recently. It was time to step up the cake decorating game, and I decided I'd give the whole thing one last whirl with more professional ingredients and see if it made a difference. I was sick of the frustration that came with tearing fondant, modeled creations that wouldn't dry and had no flexibility and no ability to hold up when rolled thinly. I was at the point where I was considering giving up cake decorating all together-it was one mess after another. Every youtube tutorial I watched, I saw the ingredients being so roughly handled and they still held their shape. I was missing something.
Then I bought gum paste. My whole view on decorating changed, as I discovered most of my struggles were due to inferior products. Yes, you can use rolled fondant instead of gum paste, but the difference in results is sizable. I also used CMC powder with these large peony creations, which reduced the drying time significantly (I highly recommend this stuff if you live in a humid climate like I do!) To make the peonies lighter, I also used small round foam balls for the centre. I highly recommend using a foam mat, rolling tool and the easy peony cutters for beautiful, gum paste creations that could grace any special occasion cake.
As usual, I made Mississippi mud cakes with premium bourbon whiskey. The peonies were made with the easy peony cutters which made for quicker creations without all the wiring involved. The cake also has decorations of edible lace sugar veil, and was covered with aqua fondant. The peonies were dusted with pink petal dust. I love this contrast! What is your favourite colour combination?

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Here's another nostalgic recipe from the other side of the family. It's loosely based on one of my husband's family favourites. His mum had created the recipe, but it was just something she kept in her head, not a written thing. I got the gist of it, added a few of my own bits and bobs, and have written up the recipe for sharing.
At first I was highly skeptical about how the pumpkin and tomato would mesh, but this wonderful marriage of flavours has to be tasted to be believed-it's honestly even better than a meat lasagne-and I have a wonderful recipe for that too! The bacon pieces scattered through the golden cheesy white sauce that tops this great family meal really makes it sing. You could easily leave out the bacon for a vegetarian meal if you so desired.

Place diced pumpkin in a saucepan with water covering the top. Cook until soft. Strain the water and place the pumpkin in a blender with the sour cream, chicken stock and water. Puree until smooth.
In a saucepan heat up the passata, diced tomatoes, garlic and herbs until warm.
Heat the oven to 180C.
Place a layer of the pasta sheets on the bottom on the 9x13 inch lasagne dish. Top with a layer of the tomato mixture. Place another layer of the pasta sheets over the tomato mixture. Spread a layer of the pumpkin puree over these pasta sheets. Repeat, alternating the tomato mixture with the pumpkin puree between the layers of pasta until exhausted (the ingredients, not you!)
The last layer should end with pasta sheets.
To make the white sauce which covers these pasta sheets, place the butter and flour in a saucepan on low heat. When the butter melts, quickly whisk the butter into the flour while pouring in a little of the milk at a time, to make a smooth paste. Add the remaining milk and heat through. Add the grated cheese and stir through, and continue stirring until it has melted, and the white sauce is thick.
Pour this white sauce over the final pasta layer. Sprinkle with Parmesan and cooked bacon pieces.
Cook in preheated oven for approximatey one hour, or until the top layer forms a golden cheesy crust.
Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Hand written recipes. Passed down from generation to generation.
The exact same flavours, textures and appearance experienced by those carrying the same genes, decades apart. There's something exquisite in the thought of family traditions, things enjoyed on repeat-those delightful family classics.
This is one of those family classics. It's mum's brownie recipe, and it's a real winner. I've tried other brownie recipes and I just can't find one quite as nice. It's fudgy, chocolatey and moist-simply delectable. Today my kids are making it and it's being enjoyed my the third generation. I hope it passes to many more!
What's your best family favourite?

Preheat your oven to 180C.
Melt butter and remove from heat. Stir through the cocoa and brown sugar until combined.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Next, blend in the flour and salt. Spoon
the batter into a greased and lined 18x18 square baking dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

To make the icing, place all the ingredients in a bowl, and whip on high until thick and smooth. Cut the edges off the cooled brownie, then cut into two. Lather one with icing, then place the other half on top and smooth on the remainder. You can use a fork to draw a line pattern in the top, and sprinkle crushed walnuts on the finished product if desired. Cut and serve!

NOTES: You can omit a tablespoon or so of the flour to make for a slightly fudgier brownie. Yum!

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

It's almost been a year since I made this crazy decadent Snicker's bar cake for my hubby's birthday. I lost it's photos among the craziness that followed two weeks later-the birth of my youngest son. Sometimes I feel like that newborn phase creates a mayhem that no one who hasn't been through it understands. For me that usually lasts the first year after baby is born. I'm coming out of the fog, people! Paddy is almost one, and while I still don't get any more than two hours sleep in a row max, I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (through droopy eyes.)
Baby experience or not, you may have a "food baby" after eating this cake, which is just a giant replication of your good old Snicker's Bar. It is seriously one of the richest most decadent things I have ever eaten, and I can't believe that my husband and I tackled this thing on our own. This is really the type of cake you could have at a party, it goes a long way because you cant eat too much at one sitting.
If you're not throwing a party, you could consider cutting this in half and freezing a portion. I had to feed half of this to the birds in the end because it took us that long to work our way through it that the custard began to go bad-it was such a shame I had not thought to freeze part of it!
It's insanely impressive in appearance and in taste, with decadent layers of Snickers, chocolate ganache, caramel, peanut butter custard, chocolate custard and biscuit. To die for!

To make the pudding and assemble the main:
In a large heat proof bowl, place the corn flour, sugar, salt and milk. Beat with electric beaters until well combined. Transfer to a heavy based saucepan. Over a very low heat, stir continuously until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leave ribbons when drizzled on itself.
Add vanilla and stir through to combine. Divide the mixture in half. Add the chocolate to one half, and the peanut butter to the other half. Stir both separately to combine thoroughly. Line a 8x8 pan or two 4x8 loaf tins with grease-proof paper, with the sides of the paper hanging over the edges for easy removal. Line the bottom with a layer of the biscuits laid side by side, breaking any biscuits that don't fit to make a good base. Spread a thin layer of the chocolate pudding over this biscuit base. Make the second layer of biscuit over this. Spread with a layer of the peanut butter pudding. Continue until the pudding is used up, and finish the top with the final biscuit layer. Cover in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 3-4 hours. Half an hour before removal make the ganache pouring layer.

To make Ganache Pouring Sauce:
Place heavy cream and chocolate in a bowl over another bowl of hot water. Let sit for 5 minutes before stirring through until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and mix until until smooth. Add the water a tablespoon at a time until pouring consistency is reached.
Remove the cake from the freezer. Pull the paper sides to release the cake from the tin. Place on a serving platter. Pour the ganache over the top biscuit layer to cover. Sprinkle with the chopped snickers bars. Then make the caramel sauce to finish the cake off.

To make the caramel sauce:
Place honey, butter and sugar in a small saucepan over a low flame. Stir as the butter melts, continuing until the mixture boils. Cool for a minute or two before quickly drizzling over the top of the cake (this dries quickly in the pot, so make haste)
You can return the cake to the freezer to firm up before cutting, or serve straight away. Semi freezing is advised for nice neat cuts.

Monday, June 6, 2016

I sit here with a large glass of green smoothie. It's chlorophyll packed, vitamin packaged and nutritious, to counteract a week of indulgent eating in Melbourne. Alright, one smoothie isn't going to cut it, but these drinks are becoming a regular, and I feel good! I'll tell you what else feels really good-belly laughs. Yes, I had a really good one the other night. It concerned coming home to my little family after my "annual leave" to hear my 5 year old son talk repeatedly of these great "chocolate energy balls" that daddy put in his lunchbox. There was talk of how there were a few left over for other lunches. Chocolate energy balls this, chocolate energy balls that.
Thinking Dad must have bought some new fandangled treat when he went shopping, I thought little more of it-until I saw a few remaining energy balls in the refrigerator on a late night raid.
Chocolate energy balls.
Laced with good, and I mean, very good, lashings of Mount Gay Rum. Not chocolate energy balls, but adult only style rum balls.
All of a sudden I envisioned my son at school writing his letters a little less than precise, reeking of Mount Gay Rum. Fumes on the breath. Teacher's eyes bulging a little at the recognition of the scent of liquor surrounding a kiddo in her class.
No wonder they were so good.
Before I left for Melbourne I made my hubby some of these delicious adult treats, but I fear the Tupperware slice container made them look rather child friendly and fooled him. I mean, there's not so much rum in them to affect a kid, but still, it make me cackle wildly in the dead of night.
Next time he requests those "chocolate energy balls" for his lunchbox, I'll be holding off on the booze!
I took a container of these "energy balls" on the plane with me to Melbourne to give to my mum as a gift. I got stranded for a good few hours at a train station in the city and, not having eaten for about 8 hours, retrieved them from my bag and started on my lunch of decadent creamy rum balls. While I indulged, I watched a man scrounge through a garbage bin and thought about offering him a few. Then I was distracted in that moment by a woman sitting in a cafe. She started vomiting all over the cafe table-violent vomiting. The man ran away from the bin in a screaming rage at an invisible person.
Eventful and random morning. I continued eating through the box of rum balls-feeling very fortunate all of a sudden. Sorry Mum.
This recipe comes from my good friend Ursula, and they are her specialty. She made me a lovely gift box full of them for me at Christmas, and I knew I had to get her to share the recipe with me. They are so delicious-definitely not your average rum balls. The Secret I think is in the addition of butter. They are creamy! Decadently creamy, chocolatey and rummy. Moorish.

Thursday, May 26, 2016

I totally love my sweets and processed foods, but you only realise how they lack when you eat something that is delicious, nutritious and made of good, unprocessed natural ingredients. I find myself taking a spoonful and sitting up a little straighter, and thinking "Why the heck don't we eat like this everyday?"
It's the type of food that fills you with a sense of nurturing your system. You find yourself thinking on this food often, wanting more of it in the future, yet being completely satisfied and not needing more after a serve. All that processed food leaves you feeling momentarily satisfied, then almost instantly wanting more. It's like a drug. It doesn't fill you.
That's why I usually don't buy cereals for my kids, but give them porridge made on milk instead. After a bowl of cereal, my kids are asking me for snacks. After a bowl of porridge, I don't hear the word snack for a few hours.
This is one of those high fibre, super nutritious and utterly delicious meals that eaves your tummy feeling happy for a long time. If you're vegan or vegetarian, this is also the perfect meal for you and will leave you with a happy face as well.
It's great for meat free Fridays if you're Catholic like I am. (In case you where unaware, we traditionally don't eat meat on Fridays. Fish is permissible.) If you totally need your meat in every meal, shredded roast chicken is perfect in this dish too.
Whip this up and your house will be smelling amazing, with infusions of garlic, onion, paprika and cumin. You can serve with rice or cous cous- pasta would probably go well too! Buen provecho!

Heat up the oil in a large fry pan. Add the onion and cook on medium with the lid on, until almost translucent. Add the garlic and cook, stirring a little, for two minutes.
Add the spices and stir through the onion and garlic mix, careful not to burn these ingredients.
Add tomato paste, combine thoroughly.
Pour in the tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper to your taste. (At this point you can add the optional sugar if your tomatoes are very tangy, or just leave out.)
Turn the heat to low and let the sauce thicken, with no lid on. Stir it from time to time so that it doesn't burn.
Stir in the chickpeas. Lastly, add the spinach and heat until wilted. Garnish with the almonds. Scoop generous serving on rice and enjoy!

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

This Mother's Day I asked my kiddies what they would like to make for mum, and my eldest daughter pulled out the cookie cutters. Mr 5 pored through a recipe book and pointed out a recipe for sugar cookies-so we got to it. I knew these gorgeous cookies would make the perfect budget friendly gift!
How important is involving children in cooking? I think it's a crucial life skill that needs to be encouraged at a very young age. I've vowed not to let one child of mine leave home without a good set of cooking skills under their belt-and not only the essentials. If you're wondering how to instill a love for cooking in your kids, there's a wonderful guide to cooking skills outlining appropriate cooking tasks listed by age, starting from three years and up. As painfully slow and messy it can be, I always allow my kids to get involved when I'm baking. They're too small to do much yet, but they do love activities like beating, rolling, measuring, sifting, licking the spoon....

Mix the butter and sugar with beaters until creamy. Beat in the rind and the yolk. Sift in the flour and mix into a soft dough. Gently knead until smooth, then halve the dough and form into two balls. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour (or the freezer for 20 minutes)Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).Grease and line two baking trays. Unwrap the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of about 5mm/1/4 inch. Using a heart shaped cutter, cut out the dough and place the shapes on the baking trays with at least 2cm space between them.Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until they begin to turn golden.Remove from oven and cool on a cooling rack. When completely cool, ice with royal icing, and decorate if desired.

Place the egg white in a bowl and add a little sugar. Beat until smooth. Gradually beat in the remaining sugar to make a smooth, thick icing that holds soft peaks. For a thinner, spreadable icing, beat in a few drops of water or lemon juice to get the required consistency. To colour the icing, use a toothpick to add a little liquid or gel food colouring an mix thoroughly.To ice the hearts, outline the cookies with the thicker icing and allow o ry, then fill in with a more spreadable royal icing. We decorated with a smaller version of these gumpaste roses and store bought edible pearls.